Project Pigeon (later Project Orcon, for "organic control") was an attempt by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner to develop a pigeon-controlled guided bomb. The video demonstrates how, using operant conditioning, the pigeons were trained to peck and the target projected on a small screen in the nose cone. The program was canceled on 8 October 1944 because "further prosecution of this project would seriously delay others which in the minds of the Division have more immediate promise of combat application."

Footage showing a pigeon pecking at screen containing the image of a battleship. The film was made as part of B.F. Skinner's ORCON (Organic Control) project, which was designed to teach pigeons to perform tasks. The onset of World War II brought additional avenues for research to Skinner's laboratory. At the outset of the war, the U.S. Airforce was dependent on traditional weaponry such as bombers dropping dozens of high explosive shells on a target, there were no missile guidance systems at the time. Skinner sought funding for a top secret research project to train pigeons to guide bombs towards their targets. The control system involved a lens at the front of the missile projecting an image of the target on to a screen inside, where a pigeon trained by operant conditioning pecked at the target. As long as the pecks remained in the center of the screen, the missile would fly straight. The actions of the pigeon guided the bomb. In his experiments Skinner demonstrated that his pigeons were able to reliably peck at the target, even while falling rapidly and surrounded by the intense noise of simulated warfare. Project Pigeon was eventually discontinued because of another top secret military project unknown to Skinner (radar), but the work proved useful to Skinner's research. He had proved that pigeons responded more rapidly than rats, which led to later behavioral discoveries as well as additional research.